This
mummiform statuette represents King Senkamanisken who ruled Nubia from c. 640
to 620 BC.The Kushite kings at this
time followed many practices derived from Egypt.For example, Senkamanisken’s tomb was in the
form of a pyramid at the site of Nuri. This statuette is a funerary figurine or
shabti, which was recovered from this tomb by George Reisner’s 1915-1918
excavations; it was gifted to the ROM by the government of Sudan in 1926.These small human-form figurines were placed
in royal Nubian tombs to assist the deceased in the afterworld, as detailed in Spell 6 of
The Book of the Dead. The six horizontal lines of text on this shabti direct it
answer for the deceased in the realm of the dead when work needs to be done. It
directs the figure to answer “here I am” when the deceased is called upon to
perform corvée labour in the afterlife, such as cultivating the fields,
irrigating the river banks, or moving sand from the east to west or vice-versa.Over 400 stone and more than 800 faience shabtis
were recovered from Senkamanisken’s tomb.

The royal
status of Senkamanisken is indicated by the nemes headdress and the double
uraeus placed at the brow.He wears a false
plaited beard, with the chin straps attaching it clearly visible.Even so, the agricultural work the figurine
is meant to undertake is indicated by the two hoes that he holds in arms
crossed over his chest, a narrower one in his right hand and a wider one in his
left. Over his left shoulder is depicted a seed bag, probably made of wicker, with
the cord to which it is attached hanging down with a forked end. On the base of
the figure is an incised ankh sign. (S.B. Shubert)